S'pore Balloon Artist Claims He Was Scammed By Customer Who Still Hasn't Paid $700 For Décor At Daughter's Birthday Party

Imagine rushing to put together balloon decorations for a kid's birthday party at the last minute, only to get ghosted when it was time to pay.

That's what Singapore balloon artist and content creator Norvin Ong, aka @qmaojunyong on Instagram, said happened after he was engaged by a customer to decorate his daughter's birthday party.

“I got scammed,” he wrote in the caption of his Instagram video recounting the incident.

 The amount in question? More than $700.

Norvin, 36, has since made a police report and warned fellow event vendors about the customer, sharing screenshots of three WhatsApp contacts with their phone numbers partially concealed.

According to Norvin, a man named Will contacted him on Sep 4 asking if he could provide balloon decorations for his 12-year-old daughter's birthday party the following day.

Norvin happened to be available.

Will wanted a backdrop, helium balloons and balloon decorations by the pool, with the entire set-up costing more than $700.  

Will allegedly agreed to PayNow him after the job was done, and Norvin immediately started preparing for the last-minute gig.

The next day, Norvin arrived at the condo in the Orchard area at around 2.30pm and finished setting up at 5.30pm.

Will allegedly said he would be back at 6.30pm to pay him, so Norvin waited.

But by 7pm, when the party had already started, Will was still nowhere to be seen.

His wife, who was at the party, allegedly told Norvin that Will was at nearby Tanglin Mall and would arrive in 10 minutes.

At 7.30pm, she said her husband had become “uncontactable”.

Norvin then asked if she could transfer him the money instead, but she allegedly said she didn't have the money and had to wait for Will to do so.

Norvin eventually stayed until 9.30pm, by which time the party had ended and everything had been torn down.

“I wasted my time, wasted my effort, [going] down to help your daughter do [her] birthday party, then you just directly ghost me,” he said.

Will eventually responded the next day, promising to settle the outstanding invoices that evening.

In a subsequent voice message, he apologised before telling Norvin: “I didn't know that your company would be, you know, low cash flow just after one day.”

He also promised to make payment “in four hours or less”, saying he had yet to receive an invoice.

Norvin sent him the invoice, but said that by midnight, he still hadn't received payment.

After netizens questioned why he hadn't collected a deposit, Norvin explained that he usually does, but had overlooked it while rushing to prepare for the last-minute job.

“This is my own negligence, so [I] can't blame anyone,” he admitted.

After Norvin went public with his experience, things got even messier.

In a screenshot of a group chat involving Will and other vendors at the party, Will wrote: “Oh man Norvin, why would you do that? I was going to make payment but I would imagine now that has to be spent on legal fees instead.”

He also claimed the balloon backdrop had not been designed as discussed and objected to being characterised as a “scammer”.

A lighting vendor then asked about their payment too.

“Payment is what we need as simple as that. Why is it so difficult to do so,” they wrote.

Screenshots show Will subsequently removing two members of the lighting company from the group chat.

Norvin's videos have since gained traction, with some netizens attempting to identify Will and his wife.

In a follow-up video, Norvin said people reached out to him with phone numbers allegedly belonging to Will, while others tracked down an Instagram account they believe belongs to his wife.

Norvin also shared a message from a viewer claiming the couple previously owned a now-defunct skincare brand and had taken money from customers without delivering their orders. The claims have not been independently verified.

Though Norvin obscured identifying details when sharing the alleged wife's Instagram account, he told viewers to “guess” and find the account themselves.

Some apparently did, with netizens sharing her alleged Instagram handle below his post.

Comments have since appeared on the woman's Instagram page, including: “Don't scam ppl leh” and “$700 no need to pay?”

Another wrote: “Ask people to decorate for baby birthday but $700 also don't have money to pay.”

It is unclear if the Instagram account does indeed belong to Will's wife.

As for his $700 payment?

Still no sign of it.